Kiddy Girl And :: Retro Mini Review

Disclaimer: apparently I kept a 2010 anime wrapup post unpublished for nearly two years. It's really dated material so I've decided it to update parts of it while releasing it in bits and pieces.

Kiddy Girl And (Score: 3.0)

I loved Kiddy Grade. For what it was back in the early days of anime in the US (2002-2003): great animation that stands out even against today's standards, x-men like superhumans, and a non-linear plot; I would consider it a must-watch as mainstream US anime interests developed in the early 2000's. In hindsight, you could even consider this anime ahead of its time, not just in animation, but also for its plot - the revolt against the 0.01%, otherwise known as the Noblisse Oblige. But then again, this is the first Kiddy Grade I'm talking about.

Unfortunately, its sequel - Kiddy Girl And - came 5 years too late and was almost self-parodying in a bad way. The original characters all but disappeared and despite high quality animation, there was nothing here. Everything that had made this series great - interesting characters, political intrigue, some kind of weird Oedipus complex thing with X and Y - these elements are all gone and replaced with generic energetic magical girl A and partner B playing the role of straightman along with the inclusion of a blander sis-con subplot. I will concede that Kiddy Girl And plays the role of 'The Empire Strikes Back' neatly, focusing on the political aftermath of events of the first series, 50 years later, but I really wish they had done this differently.

In fact, I'm going to pretend that this series didn't even exist and yearn for a true, worthy sequel.

kenholic score: 3.0 out of 10.0